A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 52 Conflict
This middle-aged man was in his 40s, with a handsome face and a handsome figure, and he was wearing a silk shirt with a round neck. When he entered the store, he anxiously scolded Mrs. Zheng: "Uncle, you have only been out for a few days, so why don't you do something like this?" , You didn’t talk about it before, uncle who sells grain at a low price, but this time it’s like this again, and it annoys everyone, so be careful that disasters come to your door.”

Mrs. Zheng bowed her head and said nothing, and the girl next to her was unconvinced: "My sister did nothing wrong. The price of food in the city is indeed too low now. It is too much to buy it for eight dollars and sell it for five taels. How do ordinary people live?"

The middle-aged man paused, and said: "This is a discussion among colleagues in the city, and the price of food is unified. My niece, the chamber of commerce has its own rules. If you do this, you are risking the disgrace of the world."

He said worriedly: "Besides, the president of the grain bank is now from the Li family, so who is the Li family? His ancestors have won Juren, and there is his family's Kedifang on the East Street. They are in the security room. With such great influence, how dare we, an outsider, fight against them?"

He just sighed, and the girl said in a panic, "Uncle, what should we do?"

The middle-aged man sighed: "What else can I do? Quickly restore the price of food, and then uncle sells this old face to explain to colleagues in the chamber of commerce, and finally pay some fines. But this is already the lightest punishment, I'm afraid... ..."

Fear suddenly flashed in his eyes.

Madam Zheng's face was a little pale, she lowered her head in a daze, and after a while, she murmured: "Could it be that we can't do business well, it must be like this..."

Wang Dou sat on the sidelines and listened. He finally understood what it was like to hoard and buy at a low price and sell at a high price in ancient times. He also saw the strict and powerful influence of guild rules in this era.

He smiled and said, "Ms. Zheng is honest in her business, Wang admires it."

The middle-aged man only noticed Wang Dou and the others at this moment, and he asked suspiciously, "Who are these?"

Madam Zheng forced a smile, and said, "Uncle, I almost forgot, my niece is here to introduce you..."

She was about to speak, when she suddenly shouted angrily, and then there was a chorus of voices, and pedestrians dodged.Menacingly, a few merchant-like people rushed in with a group of strong men, each with sticks in their hands, crowding a store to the brim, and drove away the people who sold grain.

The leading businessman shouted: "Zheng Lao Si, you Wan Shenghe are going too far. You openly raised the price. Do you take the chamber of commerce seriously?"

Another businessman said: "That's right, Mr. Zheng, you Wan Shenghe are ruining the livelihood of our rice shop by doing this."

"Cutting off a person's fortune is like killing one's parents..."

Amidst the angry accusations, the middle-aged man Zheng Laosi was just flustered. He waved his hands repeatedly and said: "Misunderstanding, this is all a misunderstanding, everyone, please listen to my explanation."

A businessman said: "Don't bother with him, just smash the rice store for me."

The group of strong men was about to rush forward aggressively, and the girl screamed loudly.

"Boom!" With a loud noise, a table was kicked to pieces, and sawdust flew everywhere!
It was Gao Shiyin who jumped out and kicked the table in front of him away.

He shouted angrily, pulled out his waist knife, and said loudly: "Who dares to do it? I chopped him off!"

Everyone was silent immediately, and the group of men who rushed up also stopped in a daze.

Gao Shiyin held a knife in his hand, pointed at everyone and said viciously: "You profiteers are doing evil and doing all kinds of evil. Whoever dares to step forward, I will do justice for the sky today!"

He was tall, with a fleshy face, and with that signature ferocious and cruel grin, he looked extremely frightening.

Han Chao glanced at Wang Dou, Wang Dou nodded, Han Chao and Han Zhong also jumped up, they drew their waist knives and stood behind Gao Shiyin, just staring at everyone.

The murderous look on the three of them who had seen the battlefield made everyone jump with fear. The group of men all shrunk their bodies away, and the businessmen couldn't help but swallowed. A soldier comes to help, no wonder he is confident, but the matter is not over, Zheng Laosi, you wait."

A group of them went dejectedly, and the onlookers on the street cheered and cheered.

……

The middle-aged man Zheng Laosi came over to thank Wang Dou and the others with a smile on his face, and the girl also looked at Gao Shiyin with admiration, making him proud, and took the opportunity to ask her name, the girl said shyly, it turns out She is Mrs. Zheng's third sister, named Zheng Xiaoyun.

With Zheng Laosi's eyesight, he naturally saw that Wang Dou was the leader among them, so he asked Wang Dou's sex name.

"Villain Zheng Jinglun, I don't know the name of this military master Gao?"

"Wang Dou?"

He pondered for a while, then said in surprise: "So it was the Wang Zongqi who killed the Tartars and wiped out the bandits?"

Wang Dou didn't expect his reputation to spread so widely, he smiled and said, "Exactly."

Zheng Jinglun bowed with a smile on his face and said: "It turns out that it is really Wang Zongqi. I have heard the name of your lord for a long time. It is really lucky to meet you today."

He told Mrs. Zheng: "Niece, hurry up and prepare some food and drink. Uncle must treat Mr. Wang and the others well."

A few people sat down to drink, and Zheng Jinglun talked about his rice shop. It turned out that they were from Weizhou, Shanxi, and they were considered to be a branch of Shanxi merchants.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the eight families of Shanxi merchants, the Wang family, the Jin family, the Fan family, the Liang family, the Tian family, the Zhai family, and the Huang family, all set up trading points in Zhangjiakou, and had close ties with the Mongols and Jurchens outside the Great Wall. It costs tens of thousands to 10 taels at every turn, and their goods branches are all over the northern provinces of Daming.

Wang Dou didn't like the merchants in the late Ming Dynasty, hoarded them, drove up prices, and was extravagant. Especially Shanxi merchants played a disgraceful role in the history of the late Ming Dynasty.Zheng Jinglun's family slightly changed their impression of merchants in the late Ming Dynasty.

After hearing Zheng Jinglun's business history, it was indeed very difficult. Wang Dou smiled and said: "My Tunpu has a population of hundreds of households, hundreds of people, and needs a lot of rice. If Boss Zheng is willing, Wang Just stay in Wansheng and buy grain and sell grain.”

Zheng Jinglun was overjoyed, it was a blessing in disguise today, and he suddenly got an important source of tourists, and Wang Dou and the others are all good in force, so he can also rely on him.

He stood up, made a deep bow, and said: "In that case, I thank Mr. Wang."

Wang Dou nodded with a smile. With the expansion of the population of his territory, the demand for various resources is increasing. Maybe this Zheng Jinglun can help him find the source of those goods.

Gao Shiyin saw that Zheng Jinglun was so polite to his lord, and he was so famous, so he sat complacently. He drank wine and ate food, but only looked at Zheng Xiaoyun, which made her even more shy.Like him, Mrs. Zheng sitting next to Zheng Xiaoyun looked at Han Chao from time to time.Han Zhong and Zhong Tiaoyang both looked at Han Chao with teasing eyes when they saw Mingtang, and Han Chao just ate and drank in sullen.

Talking about what happened just now, Zheng Jinglun sighed: "I have offended the Chamber of Commerce at the moment, I am afraid that life will be difficult, especially since the Li family's nephews are all young and strong in the city. Come here to make trouble, a small shop like ours, alas..."

Wang Dou nodded. In addition to guarding thousands of soldiers led by Xu Zucheng, there are also more than 200 people in the city of Baoan Prefecture. They are directly led by the Zhizhou in normal times, and they are subject to moral restraint in wartime.Wanshenghe is a small shop, if people come here and make trouble from time to time, it will be difficult to continue to open.

Gao Shiyin shouted: "If anyone dares to come over and cause trouble, shopkeeper Zheng can just come and tell us that we are not even afraid of Tartars, but how many small folks are we afraid of?"

Zheng Jinglun said gratefully: "It all depends on Mr. Wang and you."

Suddenly I heard a commotion outside, and then a gloomy voice came: "It's the rice store in front. Someone reported them for disrupting the market and intending to kill others. Brothers, follow me to arrest them and report them to them." The officer will take the reward."

Then another violent voice sounded: "I don't know which arrogant soldiers from the countryside have eaten the heart of a leopard and dared to come to the city to make trouble. Brothers, show these country soldiers some color!"

A howling sound is getting closer.

Everyone in the store was startled, Gao Shiyin took a step forward, went to the door of the store to watch, he came back after a while, and shouted: "What a coincidence, a group of strong people came outside, there seemed to be two to thirty people. , led by the two Chief Armors, are coming this way."

Wang Dou yelled, "Fuck you, get on your horse!"

Things have already caused trouble, and he is not afraid of making trouble.Seeing that there were several sticks beside the table, one person took one, and five people got on the horses in front of the store.

Several people rode high on their horses, each holding a long stick in their hands, and Gao Shiyin even rode at the forefront.Although there are only five people, they are as imposing as a thousand troops.

Wang Dou looked over, and saw a group of people coming over there, led by two Minzhuang Zongjia, one was thinner and the other was tall, with long knives in their hands.The rest are strong, and all of them are armed with knives and guns.The crowd came over aggressively, and all the people on the street dodged.

Wang Dou and the others were holding long sticks and riding on the horse with a relaxed expression. Only Zheng Jinglun and Mrs. Zheng stood at the door of the store and watched worriedly.

The group of people on the opposite side saw Wang Dou and the others and stopped suddenly.Then the burly Zongjia shouted: "These are the soldiers, brothers, let's go up and catch them."

Everyone will come forward again.The skinny Zong A took a closer look, and he shouted suddenly: "Gao Manzi, how could it be you?"

Gao Shiyin also took a look, and he shouted: "Li Tianxu, Li Tiancheng, so it's you."

He laughed loudly and said, "You guys want to catch Lao Gao?"

The skinny Li Tianxu and the tall and big man Li Tiancheng looked ugly, everyone over there also said one after another: "So it's Gao Manzi, how could it be him."

"This guy is a desperado, not easy to deal with."

"Brothers who eat, drink and have fun together on weekdays, it's not easy to start."

Listening to the commotion over there, Wang Dou and the others all glanced at Gao Shiyin. This guy has a wide range of contacts and knows so many people in Zhoucheng.

Li Tianxu's face was gloomy, and he shouted loudly: "Gao Manzi, this matter has nothing to do with you, don't get involved."

Gao Shiyin shouted: "Whoever says it's none of my business, from today on, this Wan Shenghe's matter is my Gao Shiyin's business!"

Li Tiancheng shouted: "Gao Manzi, don't be ignorant, no matter how brave you are, with so many of us, we still can't take you down?"

Gao Shiyin laughed loudly and said, "My old Gao is not even afraid of the Tartars, but I am afraid of you bastards? Just let the horse come here, my lord, me, and a few brothers have already had itchy hands."

The complexions of the people over there changed drastically, and everyone said: "Who are the ones who killed the Tartars over there? I heard that nine of them killed ten Tartars!"

"Wang Dou is the fierce man behind Gao Manzi, isn't he? He's a god of killing. He killed five Tartars by himself!"

"The few of them are here, even if they are beaten away, the brothers will suffer a lot of damage, it's not worth it."

"Two heads, let's think about it in the long run."

Sitting quietly on the horse, Wang Dou watched the expressions of the folk over there change drastically. He didn't expect that he and the others had such a great reputation in the city.At this time, the street was already full of people watching from afar, and they heard that the riders in front of them were Wang Dou who killed the Tartars, they all cast their eyes one after another, talking in low voices non-stop.

Zhong Tiaoyang rode his horse and stood behind Wang Dou, also proud of himself.Over there, Zheng Jinglun and Mrs. Zheng were also relieved to see the power of Wang Dou and the others, and they looked at each other happily.

Over there Li Tianxu and Li Tiancheng discussed in a low voice, Li Tiancheng said urgently: "Brother, what should we do?"

A fierce light flashed in Li Tianxu's eyes: "If we don't capture Gao Manzi and the others today, what will our Li family's face be in Zhoucheng? Don't be afraid, there are many of us anyway, so we will go together."

The two turned around and shouted a few words, and offered a big reward, and all the people forced themselves to come here again.

Wang Dou sneered: "Things that don't know how to live or die."

He gave an order, and several people waved their long sticks, and they were about to gallop away.

At this moment, suddenly there was a loud shout from the other side of the street: "What are you doing, but gathering crowds to make trouble?"

Wang Dou and the others looked, but saw a group of cavalry appearing over there, all of them were dressed as Ming soldiers, with a recognition flag with the word "Xu" in front of them.

Several cavalry separated and came out of the team. At the head was a sturdy general in armor, followed by several cavalry servants, also wearing armor, holding long spears in their hands, and everyone was carrying bows and arrows.These servants are all elites, second only to Han and North Korea in skill.

There was a commotion among the folks, and everyone said: "It's the military horse guarding Master Xu, and it's his family officer, Yang Dongmin, Master Yang."

Then Yang Dongmin led a few riders to Li Tianxu and the others, and shouted condescendingly: "Why are you making trouble here?"

Li Tianxu hurriedly said respectfully: "Master Yang, how dare the young ones make trouble. Someone reported Wansheng and Midian for disrupting the market, and invited a few soldiers to commit murder and hurt people. The young ones came to check and understand. Look, my lord. Those people in front."

Yang Dongmin snorted, gave Li Tianxu a cold look, and rode his horse up to Wang Dou and the others.

Wang Dou and the others dismounted, Yang Dongmin's gaze was as sharp as a knife, he just looked at Wang Dou and the others, and he shouted: "Which Tunbao sergeant are you, why are you attacking people in Zhoucheng?"

Wang Dou came out in front of the crowd, he cupped his fists and saluted, "Master, the younger one is Wang Dou, the chief of Jingbian Fort, who came to Zhoucheng today and did not commit any murder."

He clearly explained the cause and effect, and said: "My lord, this is how it happened, please be aware of it, my lord."

Yang Dongmin ignored what Wang Dou said, he just looked at Wang Dou carefully for a while, and said, "Wang Dou? Are you that Wang Dou from Dongjiazhuang?"

Wang Dou clasped his fists and said, "Return to the adults, the younger ones are right."

He took off his badge and handed it to Yang Dongmin for inspection. Yang Dongmin held the badge in his hand and looked at it for a while, then threw it back to Wang Dou.There was a smile on his face, and he said: "I heard that there was a Wang Dou in Dongjiazhuang who was extremely brave. With nine people, he killed ten Tartars. He was indeed a brave man. Master Xu often mentioned it in front of me. you."

He laughed loudly, and the servants behind him looked at Wang Dou and exchanged glances with each other, all showing expressions worthy of their reputation.Seeing Yang Dongmin like this, Han Chao and the others behind Wang Dou all showed happy faces. With Master Yang saying this, it seems that everyone is fine today.

(End of this chapter)